1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bariatric beds and, more particularly, to bariatric beds of the type convertible to a reclining bariatric chair and having features for facilitating the comfort, care and support of the bariatric patient.
2. Background
The care of morbidly obese patients, also known as bariatric patients, presents many extraordinary challenges which have not been adequately addressed in the past. Not the least of the challenges is basic physical handling of such patients. Even partially lifting a bariatric patient often requires three or four very strong nurses. Supporting their huge size and weight on a bed likewise requires the bed to have tremendous structural strength and stability. An eight hundred pound patient will not only render many of the controls of a typical hospital bed inoperative, but will literally crush components just by sitting on the bed. Structural instability, moreover, tends to increase with complexity. Consequently, although standard hospital bed frames like the Hill-Rom 835 frame can be full-featured, caregivers of bariatric patients have long had to rely on bariatric beds with very basic support structures and limited features.
Examples of known bariatric beds include the “Magnum” bed previously manufactured by Mediscus Products Ltd. of Wareham, England and the “Burke” bed manufactured by Burke, Inc. of Mission, Kans.